Tips on Starting a Plumbing Company

Small businesses have to bring their A-game in order to compete with the well-established companies. During the infancy stages, they are compounded with many challenges ranging from lack of skills, limited resources, and even lack of motivation. Take the plumbing business, for example,the market is flooded with entrepreneurs which makes it almost impossible to gain a considerable market share.Before going out on your own, you need to plan and strategize accordingly to avoid failing.

With that said, there is nothing like a crystal clean blueprint for starting a successful plumbing business. However, there are some few things that you need to have in place to lead into a prosperous direction.

We have compiled a few tips to help you start a successful plumbing company.

Find and develop a niche for yourself

If you are planning to start a plumbing business, it would be counterproductive to do everything there is in plumbing. You risk spreading yourself and resources too thin which would hurt your business.

Instead, you should look for one or two areas of specialization say sanitary equipment repair and stick to it.

Once you have truly established your target niche, you can partnerarchitects, builders, and other professions who manage other types of projects so they will always outsource you in their projects.

Remember, due to limited resources, your plumbing business may not be able to cater for all the plumbing services.It is for this reason that you should mainly focus on a niche to help your business grow.

Develop a Great Business Plan

A business plan gives you and your plumbing business a sense of direction. It allows you to answer everything like where you will get the funding from, the required office space, the type of equipment, number of staff, and much more.

A good business plan will also state your experience in the plumbing trade, how you plan to run it and the projected profits.

Submit Essential Documents On Time

Only a few businesses are interested in burying their head in paperwork. Instead, they would rather focus on making money. As a pro-active plumbing business owner, you should always ensure that you submit your papers and plumbing clearance certificates to the respective partners and authorities to avoid inconveniences.

If you are working with a building company, prepare your paperwork and submit it to them in advance for them to consider you and place you on the priority list.

Market your Business

A fairly small and new business may not have the financial muscle to mount a large marketing campaign on TV and Radio. However, you can start with the basic form of marketing using the word of mouth. Most customers prefer doing business with plumbing companies they can trust so you should always ensure you have an upper hand over your competitors.

Secondly, it would be lackadaisical to start a company without a logo. It’s the symbol of your company and most customers rely on the logo to establish your authenticity. Your company needs a logo that not only resonates with the services you offer but also convey your brand’s message to the customers.

Lastly, a website also comes in handy in marketing your business. Most businesses are shifting their business from the brick and mortar to online platforms. Most of your potential customers will likely get a feel of your business services, pricing, contact information etc. In fact, if you are more creative in your website, you may just convert them into your frequent loyal customers.

Generate Leads and Convert the Leads Into Sales

While looking to join the plumbing business, breaking even should be your first priority. Ideally, your aim should be within one year or two. However, it would be even better if that happened sooner.

You can hatch a few strategies to turn the profits sooner by providingcustomer referral rewards discounts to frequent customers. Additionally, after-sales services to ensure that your clients are happy with your services works magic.

Fire Yourself

As an individual plumber, there’s only so much you can do alone. However, if you are looking to run a large plumbing corporation, chances of running large jobs solo are limited. You end up failing your clients by taking on large projects that you can’t complete on your own.

However, you can fire yourself and take up the roles of a business manager and allow others do the heavy lifting for you. At this point, a solid grasp of how to run a business is absolutely necessary and you will probably need training.

Learn About Overhead

One of the stumbling blocks for business success is the lack ofunderstanding of the business cashflows. As a plumbing business owner, you are expected to have a clear picture of the costs associated with your business or else you will have a difficult time determining and setting your pricing matrix.

The take home

As a plumbing business owner you can be an eternal student who continually learns in order to build a profitable business. Consistency, reputation, and trust are some of the key factors that you can’t afford to compromise on. Love and passion for your business are also crucial ingredients for a successful business.

About The Author

Writing from Copenhagen, Denmark, Dan is an entrepreneur, husband and ultramarathon distance runner. He spends most of his time co-managing home sites like That Sweet Gift, Borncute, Motorful and health sites such as Runnerclick.

Plumbing Guide

The plumbing guide contains useful information about plumbing from do-it-yourself articles (DIY's) to general plumbing tips to national and local plumbing events.